Commuter rail users, brace yourselves

Despite thousands of emails and public hearing appeals to give riders a break, the state will be hiking fares on the Worcester commuter rail service to Boston and not by a token amount.

Starting next Sunday it will cost a cool 10 dollar bill to get to Boston from Union Station, and another 10 to get back.

The state budget will be enacted on the pretense that there are no new taxes next year. But commuters who depend on public rail service might have another view, as fares are going up 29 percent. That will cost some workers as much as an additional $800 each year.

Those riding from Worcester to Boston and Fitchburg to Boston will see fares go from $7.75 to $10 each way, with a monthly pass rising from $250 to $314.

It remained unexplained why the commuter rail users were hit with a higher percentage increase than the riders of the Boston subway and bus system, which will see increases closer to 23 percent. However, it has become a conventional view on Beacon Hill that riders in Boston deserve higher transit subsidies.

To close a remaining $51 million gap in the MBTA budget, the Senate approved use of a surplus of funds from state’s motor vehicle inspection fees that were earmarked for clean air projects and it also tapped unused snow and ice highway funds.

But there was resistance. The measure passed 26-9 with some non-Boston area members complaining about funds from taxpayers who do not use the MBTA paying for subway rider subsidies, although $1.5 million was also approved to be split up among regional transit authorities across the state.

Sen. Gale Candaras, D-Wilbraham, called for a bankruptcy style control board to take over the MBTA, but the Senate did not endorse such a dramatic condition for the bailout.

She said the MBTA gets more state subsidies than any other major transit system, with 60 percent of its costs borne by taxpayers. That compares to 17 percent in Washington, D.C., 34 percent in New Jersey and 40 percent in New York City.

“Nobody comes up to 60 percent, only the MBTA,” she said complaining about a string of bailouts which did little to stop the dramatic fare hikes, including a $160 million hike in annual funding from the 2009 sales tax increase.

Sen. Bruce Tarr, a Gloucester Republican, urged in vain for the Senate to ask the attorney general to review MBTA plans to spend $1.3 billion on a new expansion of the Green Line for Boston suburbs. It was agreed to years ago as an offset to anticipated air pollution impacts from the Big Dig. While it remains unclear whether those air impacts ever developed, funding for the large transit expansion project accounts for a large portion of the paper debt carried on the MBTA’s books.

Mr. Tarr urged the attorney general to study projects, “we perceive to be committed to” in order to find a legal way to get out of those commitments. The Senate wouldn’t go for it, but many expect to see tax and highway toll hikes and possible new types of transportation fees on cars to allow the state to help fill in an anticipated $300 million MBTA deficit next spring.

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Thousands of young immigrants across the state celebrated a new license to live and work in Massachusetts with President Obama’s announcement that children of illegal immigrants will be eligible for renewable visas and work permits. But not everyone was welcoming that development and residents will likely hear arguing well into autumn.

Republican U.S. Sen. Sen. Scott Brown said he opposed the policy when it was offered as legislation and he opposes it now as an executive order from the president.

While his Democratic opponent, Elizabeth Warren, said the measure was long overdue, Mr. Brown said he expects the presidential order will “set off a new wave of illegal immigration” worsening the nation’s immigration problems.

“Rather than sidestepping Congress on this major policy shift, the president should work with us toward a bipartisan, long-term solution,” Mr. Brown said.

Ms. Warren said the people that will benefit have gone to school in the U.S. and some have served in the military. They should be allowed to build a legal life in the U.S., she said.

“These young people did nothing wrong, they were brought to this country by their parents. They have gone to school here or served in the military and they should be able to continue living and working here,” she said.

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Another hurricane season is here but it’s not clear if the Plymouth nuclear power plant is prepared to handle sudden massive flooding and other safety issues raised by the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster in Japan one year ago.

Attorney General Martha Coakley says the federal government rushed to re-license the state’s last remaining nuclear plant for another 20 years “without considering the important safety issues raised in the aftermath of the Fukushima accident.”

She said she appealed the re-licensing in federal court last week to protect the public and surrounding communities.

The attorney general lost an appeal to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a hearing on the implications of the Japanese disaster as part of the plant’s re-licensing process last year. Last month the NRC issued a new 20-year operating permit for the plant.

The appeal, filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, challenges the legitimacy of the license renewal without first considering the lessons learned from the explosive nuclear plant disaster when it was hit with a tidal wave in Northern Japan.

The Attorney General’s office said the Plymouth plant is of similar design to the four that blew up and melted down at Fukushima and she believes that review is required by federal re-licensing laws.